Bernie Sanders: an insurgency of information.

Bernie Sanders: an insurgency of information.

Bernie Sanders faces many problems in his bid to become the next President of the United States. He is faced with a media blackout. His own party is blocking him from the use of voter data bases that are critical for any candidate and the media gives him very limited coverage.

As mentioned in Chapter 12 of Dynamics of Political Communication 72 percent  of election money comes from business interest. Considering that he is a self-described socialist, he is running against the very mechanics of the election process. This may give him and advantage with the American people but makes him the sworn enemy of those who pull of the strings of politics and media. He can’t afford the expensive campaign ads of other candidates and can’t count on getting money. In fact he can count on the powers that be, meaning business and special interest groups, using their money to do everything they can to stop him. But despite this he is winning. He is winning by waging an information insurgency information through social media, and by social media I mean the sites on the internet such as Twitter and Facebook.

“War Is Merely the Continuation of Policy by Other Means”. Von Clausewitz.

I add that politics is just the continuation of war by other means. In the face of an enemy with superior resources, he fights as an insurgency would fight a modern army. He fights an indirect information war. He knowns that he will never beat Hillary  Clinton or the Republicans in the mainstream media in the same way that the insurgent knows they will never defeat a standing army in open battle and instead opts at indirect warfare, fighting in the mountains and jungles knowing they will lose on open ground. He does so by fighting his battles on the terrain of social media via the internet terrain that might give his side the advantage.  Right now it looks like the internet is surpassing television as the primary method of political communication. Sanders is making to right move to fight on that terrain.

Part of waging a good political campaign especially when you are at a disadvantage is picking someone who can communicate your message. It is also my theory that you should pick someone who compliments you in areas where you are weak. Personally I don't find him as charismatic as the other candidates. He appeals to young people despite his old age. He picked someone perfect, to compensates for his weaknesses, this man is Jeff Weaver. Despite the fact that Bernie Sanders is given far less time than Hillary on television, his rallies draw larger crowds. Why is this? It’s because Sanders picked a good manager for his campaign.This is especially why young people more than any other group seem attracted to Sanders message. Why is this? After all he’s older than the other candidates from both parties? This could be because of his friend and advisor Jeff Weaver. He has been described as a “comic book king” for his comic book collection and has even compared Sanders to superman saying “truth justice and the American way, that’s Bernie” .This might explain why Sanders is popular with young people, his friendship with Jeff Weaver, and why his campaign puts him in a script that you could see Batman or Superman in. A lone hero standing up to a host of villains. Weaver is the perfect man to communicate a message, and his intimacy with comic books and popular culture doubtlessly makes him effective at understanding how to communicate a message.